


Steampunk Dreams

by occultclysms



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Androids, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:13:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24715132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/occultclysms/pseuds/occultclysms
Summary: Doyoung has always had dreams high as the sky, and once he finally starts accomplishing them after moving into the Outer City, he realizes his true potential and ability.
Relationships: Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Dong Si Cheng | Winwin/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	Steampunk Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> woooo another long fic !!! yes, i know grave robbers isn't done yet, but chapter three is on the way dw~ until I will try to update this fic once every two to three weeks and chapters will be between 5-10k in length ! there's eight story arcs to it and this is half of the first one owo, so i will be excited to wrap it up next week hopefully :3
> 
> spoiler alert(?) but hyuck's characterization doesn't stay the way he is portrayed in the beginning. hyuck is very commonly treated a very specific way in fic and I'm using this fic to make commentary on those ideas, so while he seems very 2D just trust me and read the whole fic. same with doyoung's character, but he more fits a specific Hollywood trope rather than one placed on him by fic writers. so please, read all the way through and be an active reader and maybe you'll catch the deeper meaning sooner eye ball emojis

Doyoung has always had big dreams. No one would argue with that, but sometimes people thought Doyoung's goals were too hard to be accomplished. Especially before he moved to the Outer City. Right now, he's nearing twenty and the available apprenticeship lists have just been sent to his email. The list is decently long, but Doyoung is too excited to even look at it right now. His hands are shaking as he calls up Ten.

"Ten Ten Ten," Doyoung says, nearly bouncing up and down in his bedroom. "I got the internship list today and I'm too nervous to look through it on my own. Do you want to come over and review them with me?"

"Okay, that's so much information at once and yes of course, I've been looking at mine for a few minutes and the jobs look so good already. Let's bring over all the guys though," Ten suggests. "I can call Jaehyun and Yukhei literally lives two houses over so I'll just barge into his house. You call Renjun and then we will all meet at yours in twenty minutes or less or my name isn't Ten."

"Your name isn't Ten though," Doyoung replies, laughing. "But I understand your point. What about Jungwoo though?"

"You act like he wasn't already at my house," Ten replies.

"Okay, bye, Ten."

"Bye-bye." Ten hangs up and Doyoung resists the urge to scream. Or break something. That would be against the rules and probably get Doyoung in so many levels of trouble. Well, he won't be living here in two months, so what does it matter anyway?

Doyoung's fingers fumble on the phone as he tries to call Renjun. Curse the fact that phones are attached to walls still. One would think that the Center City got all the same things as the Outer City, but no. It took at least five years and then government approval for anything to be allowed in here. That's one of the many reasons that Doyoung is glad to be leaving for good. He knows he will most likely be sent back here when he's old, but Doyoung can dream.

Dream of the freedom he so desperately craves. Dream of all the things he can create. Dream of all the friends he will meet and the skills he will learn.

"Doyoung?" Renjun asks and Doyoung snaps out of it. He nearly forgot he is supposed to be calling Renjun right now.

"Renjun, yes," Doyoung says. "I got my list of available internships for this year and everyone is coming over to help me and Ten look over them."

"That's so exciting,” Renjun replies and Doyoung can tell Renjun is happy for him, but he's still sad. Renjun is like a little brother to Doyoung, Doyoung loves Renjun so much and would do anything for him and now Doyoung is leaving him behind for several years. All because of the separation between the Outer City and Center City.

Renjun won't leave the Center City for another four years and Doyoung doesn't know how Renjun will cope with being alone once the rest of their friends move out. First Doyoung and Ten, then Jaehyun, then Jungwoo, and finally Yukhei. He'll only have a year alone, but that's a long time when there are no friends to help the time pass.

When Doyoung was eight, he would dream of turning ten. Dream for hours about all the friends he would meet when he would finally be allowed to go to school with others. Doyoung knows the logic: have parents and online instructers teach the children until age ten, so they won't be influenced negatively. Somehow at age ten, everyone should know what behavior to avoid and how to keep themselves safe. It doesn't make a lick of sense to Doyoung, but it's fine. He can't change the entire system, only work with it.

Doyoung may dream big, but not that big. With no desire to be a politician or sit through long meetings of power exchange, changing the world isn't on Doyoung's list of goals.

Another surprising bit not on Doyoung's list is falling in love. Falling in love will hold him back in this world. Falling in love means that Doyoung must move back to the Center City and have children which is a future that doesn't interest Doyoung at all.

"Doyoung are you even listening to me?" Renjun whines. "I said that I'll be there soon and you better not pick a stupid job or I'm disowning you."

"Sorry! I get lost in my thoughts a lot," Doyoung says, sheepish. "But I'll be here waiting for you."

"Epic." Then the line goes dead and Doyoung can flop back on his plain, white, queen-sized bed and return to his thoughts.

Doyoung doesn't even know what job he wants exactly. Something with a creation element. Probably something with metal too because everything in the Outer City is powered by SteamPunk. Coined by some guy Doyoung doesn't care to know the name of, but the Outer City used to be all powered by coal and oil until this guy harnessed the power of steam.

The guy is long dead, but Doyoung is grateful for his work and Doyoung hopes to continue it. The guy took one apprentice and then once the oldest one died, the younger one took an apprentice. And recently the current master steampunker has died. Now replaced with the young and handsome, Taeyong Lee, the SteamPunk world is looking all the more exciting.

Taeyong hasn't taken an apprentice in years though. People think he might not take one and end up leaving the SteamPunk world to rot with none of his skills, but who knows really. Maybe this year will be the year that Taeyong takes an apprentice.

A knock at the door has Doyoung nearly flying down the stairs before remembering that his parents wouldn't like it if he ran down them. So, Doyoung slows down and takes a deep breath before opening the front door. On the other side, stands his group of friends, all dressed in the standard white scrubs of the Center City. There are so few people who get to dress uniquely and Doyoung can't wait to be one of them.

Only doctors and politicians get to be in the Center City and dress like themselves. They also get to travel to and from as they please which is the only thing making Doyoung consider being a doctor. He would love to see his parents whenever he wishes, but Doyoung also has grown to despise the Center City, so maybe not.

"Hello, everyone," Doyoung says and everyone cheers quietly.

"I'm so excited to see the listings," Jaehyun says. "Even if I don't get to go until next year it's exciting."

"Totally agree," Jungwoo adds on.

"Now, Doyoung, are you gonna let us in, or are we reviewing where everyone can see us?" Ten asks, teasing Doyoung. Doyoung opens the door wider and everyone piles into the living room. There are no rules against hanging out at friend's houses, but kids have to follow whatever rules their parents set for them and Doyoung's don't allow any friends in his room unless they really need to be.

That rule became a thing after Doyoung came out as bisexual and his parents naturally assumed he would try to start fucking his friends. Which is not what Doyoung wants at all. Can't a guy have platonic relationships these days in peace?

"Okay pull up the list," Ten says. Doyoung grabs the remote off the coffee table and pulls up his email on the TV for everyone to see. He opens the list easily and then turns to the couch to find a spot, only to see that his friends have taken up all the space on it.

"I'll go sit by myself on the chair then," Doyoung fake pouts. Ten rolls his eyes and Jaehyun laughs.

"Come sit on my lap, Doyoung," Yukhei says. "I'm strong enough to hold you."

"Ah, yes, strong enough to hold all 110 pounds of me," Doyoung retorts, but he still goes to sit on Yukhei, careful to sit so Yukhei can still see the TV. "First on the list is public service jobs. These are the ones like doctors, politicians, and anything involving teaching or the government. Tell me if you see one that looks interesting and I'll stop."

Doyoung scrolls through around six positions before Jaehyun says to stop.

"They are looking to hire some to replace the Chief of the main ER in the Outer City," Jungwoo reads. "Why don't they just pick another doctor?"

"Isn't it because they want the Chief of the ER to pass their knowledge on directly from working in a supervisor position or something?" Ten guesses.

"Close. It's more like when the Chief is gonna step down, they want to really trust whoever is going to get the job next, and wouldn't you trust someone a lot more if they were directly trained by you?" Yukhei explains.

"That sounds so cool," Jaehyun says. "I think I would make a great doctor."

"You could be one of those doctors on TV," Renjun points out. "They are just as handsome and no real doctors have a face like that." Everyone laughs and Ten pinches Jaehyun's cheeks as he turns a dark pink.

"Okay, okay, moving on to save Jaehyun some embarrassment," Doyoung declares. He gets through three more before Ten stops him."

"What the heck is a security expert and why is it a government job?" Ten asks.

"It says: work under Taeil Moon, the Outer City's leading expert in security and protecting the city. Includes learning about how to break in places as a way to discover weaknesses, field research, and cool gadgets," Jaehyun reads, fully recovered from his embarrassing moment earlier.

"Sign me the fuck up," Ten declares and Doyoung shoots Ten a glare. Doyoung's family is strict about swearing and even if they are upstairs working, Doyoung doesn't want to risk getting in trouble, even though he personally has no issues with swearing. "Sorry, Doie."

"Anyways," Doyoung says even though he has no idea where he's going with that sentence. "I'm going to keep scrolling." Doyoung gets out of the public service section and moves onto computer-based jobs. This also isn't really for Doyoung though it has the creation element he likes. Doyoung has always just been better with his hands on something rather than typing on a keyboard. Props to whoever can code and doesn't suck at it.

Doyoung remembers in grade school when they had every student learn Kiwi, the programming language. It was supposed to be easy and for some (Jungwoo and Ten) it really was, but Doyoung ended up breaking his computer while trying to figure out how to run his code. He somehow put a virus on the computer that laid dormant for a month because Doyoung didn't trigger it somehow. What that even means is beyond Doyoung, but he would never say that to Jungwoo because he would sit Doyoung down and explain that and then four other non-related things.

"Wait, stop there," Jungwoo says. Doyoung hadn't even been paying attention to the jobs as they were scrolling by. He's that certain this field isn't for him at all. "This looks so interesting."

"Cybersecurity expert?" Renjun clarifies. "Because that sounds lame, no offense."

"Did you read the description?" Jungwoo counters. "If you had read it, you would know that cybersecurity expert really means hacker." Everyone ooh's, including Doyoung because no matter who it is, everyone thinks hacking is like the coolest thing ever.

"The description says: use Kiwi, Jay, and Astro to discover weaknesses within the firewalls of company software," Renjun reads. "Tell me where that says hacking anywhere."

"Firewalls are what protects your computer from viruses and then if you're finding weaknesses within them you're hacking and seeing if you can get through their security," Jungwoo explains. "And I could totally go on a very long rant about this, but I will spare you all."

"Thank you," Ten says, making the sign of the cross. No one besides Doyoung laughs and Ten whines. "Did none of you pay attention in history class?"

"No," Jungwoo replies. "I was busying daydreaming about not being in history class."

"Apparently in the olden days, people used to do that as a way to ask god, who was a guy in the sky that created everyone to help them out," Ten explains.

"But that's not how we were created?" Renjun says although it sounds much more like a question.

"Yes, we all know the process of creation _now_ ," Ten says. "But they didn't know back then."

"That's so strange, to be honest," Doyoung says. "Hindsight is so wild. Like, think of all the things we do and think now that people hundreds of years from now will think is ridiculous."

"Like what?" Jaehyun asks. "Everything just seems so normal right now."

"Well yeah, because that's how you grew up. It could be something small like pineapples are secretly poisoning people and we should stop eating them or like our leader was secretly stripping us of some human rights for years and years. I don't think either of those things will happen, but who knows, right?' Doyoung rambles.

"You're so smart, Doie," Yukhei says, resting his head on Doyoung's shoulder and Doyoung blushes. He doesn't even like Yukhei like that, but anyone who is attracted to men and is friends with him gets flustered at least once and a while. It's unavoidable because Yukhei is one of the sweetest boys ever. Doyoung would trust him with anything.

"Thank you," Doyoung replies. "But let's get back to the list." Doyoung scrolls through a good chunk of the jobs without anyone getting excited. It isn't until he reaches the last category: Metal Works.

"Wait, stop," Yukhei says. "Mechanic looks super cool."

"A mechanic? Like what kind?" Renjun asks.

"It says that this mechanic would work on creating the future of cars and other smaller techs like Roomba 4.0 and remotes for custom visual displays," Yukhei reads. "That literally sounds so cool."

"I agree with you," Doyoung replies. "But let's see what other metal works jobs there are." Doyoung thinks they're done but then he sees what he had been dreaming of: Taeyong is searching for an apprentice. Doyoung wriggles in Yukhei's lap and Yukhei has to wrap his arms around Doyoung's waist so he doesn't fall off.

"Woah, what's so exciting?" Renjun asks.

"Taeyong Lee," Doyoung squeaks.

"The master of SteamPunk, Taeyong Lee is searching for an apprentice. Do you think that could be you? Apply now," reads Jungwoo. "That's wild. I feel like everyone will apply to be Taeyong's apprentice to be honest. He's the most famous person on this list after all."

"Yes, I'm aware," Doyoung says. "But that's my literal dream job, so I will bend over backward to get it." In Doyoung's excitement, he hadn't noticed that his parents had come downstairs. His dad clears his throat and Doyoung gets off Yukhei's lap immediately. He knows how it looks, even though it's not true.

"Oh, Doyoung," his mom says. "I didn't know you invited your friends over and it's nearly dinner time. I'm afraid that I don't have enough food to feed everyone." That's code for 'you shouldn't have invited anyone over and we need to talk.' Doyoung almost wishes he couldn't read in between the lines, but he can, and apparently his friends kinda can.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Kim," Jaehyun says, smiling. "We were just leaving. As usual, your house decorations look flawless." Doyoung's mom smiles.

"Thank you, Jaehyun," she replies, and Doyoung heaves a sigh of relief. Thank god for Jaehyun being so handsome. Everyone files out quietly and thanks Doyoung's parents even though they had no clue about Doyoung's get together.

"Doyoung," his father says. "What were you doing on that boy's lap?" Straight to the sexuality questions. Amazing.

"There wasn't any other space on the couch and no one wanted me to sit by myself," Doyoung says plainly. "That's literally all there is to it."

"What were you doing with all your friends?" his mom asks. So many questions.

"The list of available internships came out today and everyone wanted to look at it," Doyoung replies. "Ten also needs to pick a job, so we made it a whole thing for the group."

"Okay, that's fine. Would you mind setting the table while I get dinner ready?" Why can't his mom just say things as they are? All of this reading between the lines is annoying. Because he doesn't actually have an option in this case, so why is she even asking?

"Yeah, of course." Doyoung gets three plates, three forks, and three knives and places them around the table. "Do we need any other utensils besides plates, forks, and knives?"

"Yes, get spoons and bowls too," his father replies. With both of them cooking, the kitchen feels a bit full and Doyoung can't help his side stepping, walking around the entire counter rather than move past his parents.

Doyoung sets both items on the table and sits down. He doesn't touch anything, just sit at his place. The table is rectangular in shape and sits him on the longer side with a parent at each end. Doyoung prefers circle tables, so that way everyone feels like an equal at the table. Or eating at the table with people who don't have a power disparity to him.

"So, Doyoung," his father says. "What job looked the most interesting to you?"

"I want to apply for the internship under Taeyong Lee, the famous SteamPunk guy," Doyoung says. "It looks the most interesting and it would be a really solid career path."

"Aren't a lot of people going to apply for that apprenticeship though?"

"Well, probably. But I don't think that should stop me from trying." Yeah, Doyoung isn't coming back here once he leaves. "I think mechanic is a good back up plan, that one has more spots available."

"What about something like a doctor?"

"I'm just not that interested in being a doctor." Doyoung shrugs. He knows his mom used to be a surgeon and that brought a lot of family pride and his dad used to be a judge. A mechanic is a step down from that. And while being Taeyong Lee's apprentice is a step up, his parents don't seem to believe in him and that drives Doyoung absolutely crazy. Can't they at least be supportive on the outside for his sake?

"The form asks for a third choice, so you should mark down doctor," his father decides, and Doyoung sighs. Whatever, it's just third choice. Doyoung won't really be put in that job.

"Okay, that works," Doyoung replies. His parents bring dinner over and it smells really good. "Thanks for cooking, mom, and dad."

"You're welcome," his mom says. "Dish up." Doyoung grabs the serving spoon and dishes up.

The rest of the dinner all goes according to routine, including Doyoung being told to do the dishes. He agrees without fail. His parents go back upstairs and Doyoung stares at the dishes before sighing and going back to the TV to look at the form for apprentices. It varies a little from profession to profession, but the form Taeyong has is shockingly short.

All it asks for is his name, current place of residence, birthday, form of contact, and his available hours. Doyoung fills it all out quickly and hits submit. The other forms can wait until tomorrow. Back to the dishes, Doyoung goes.

Doyoung wakes up the next morning to tense knocking on his bedroom door. Glancing at his clock, he sees that it's 9:28 and he technically shouldn't have to even be up until 10.

"What is it?" Doyoung asks. His mom opens the door and shuts it behind her.

"Taeyong Lee is outside our door right now, looking for you." Doyoung's jaw drops and his mom glares until Doyoung closes his mouth.

"What do you mean he's here?"

"He said, hello, and then asked where you were. What did you do, Doyoung?" she hisses.

"I submitted the form for his internship. I didn't think he'd show up here!" Doyoung protests. "Like who does that?"

"Okay, I will stall him for ten minutes, but then he's all yours to deal with." Doyoung salutes his mom and flops back down on his bed when she leaves. Taeyong Lee is really here to see him. Wow. Then it really sinks in. Doyoung has like nine minutes to prepare to greet who he hopes will be his future employer.

Doyoung jumps out of bed and dresses as quickly as he can, quick to stop by the bathroom and brush his teeth and hair. He's not going to greet Taeyong looking like a slob. He takes one last second to look in the mirror, gives himself a thumbs up, and then heads out of his room and down the stairs. Taeyong is sitting on his couch, legs crossed, and smiling as he chats with Doyoung's mom.

Taeyong is the most handsome person, Doyoung has ever seen. He's dressed in a top hat covered in gears, blue and bronze, a black and white kerchief, tight-fitting bronze-colored jacket and thigh-high boots covered in gears and swirls. It's all a lot to take in visually. Doyoung can't imagine how panicked he would get if Yukhei could dress like that.

"You must be Doyoung," Taeyong says, standing.

"Yeah, that's me," Doyoung replies. "I wasn't expecting you to show up here."

"Expect the unexpected. But yes, I wanted to take you on a bit of a field trip to see if you're really a good fit for the apprenticeship." Taeyong clears his throat and glances at Doyoung's mom. "With the permission of your lovely mother, she said I can take you. You will need your I.D though."

"Okay, let me go get it. I will be right back." Doyoung dashes up to his room and grabs his I.D, but he pauses once again by the door. He's really getting a taste of the city life several weeks before his birthday. Not everyone gets to do this. Doyoung takes a deep breath and heads back downstairs.

"All ready?" Taeyong asks, mouth quirking up into a smile.

"Yeah, as ready as I'll ever be," Doyoung replies. Taeyong offers Doyoung his arm and Doyoung takes it hesitantly.

"You seem a bit nervous," Taeyong observes.

"I've never been outside the city before," Doyoung admits. "I've always wanted to leave, but I never thought this would be how I ended up leaving I suppose."

"That makes sense. We're going to take these cool skateboards I made to the train station," Taeyong says, dropping Doyoung's arm. He pulls two small metal balls out of his pocket and drops them on the ground and they unfurl into hovering skateboards.

"I have no clue how to ride one of these," Doyoung points out. "And I would rather not fall on my face if I'm being honest." Taeyong laughs.

"It's really not that hard. Follow my lead," Taeyong replies. Taking one step onto the board, Taeyong makes sure to get on carefully. With both feet on, he leans his weight onto his back foot and the hoverboard moves forward a few feet. Taeyong comes back around and stops in front of Doyoung who is looking a little uneasy about this whole thing.

"How do I get on?" Doyoung asks.

"Take my hand and step up onto the front of the board first, then add your back foot." Doyoung does as Taeyong says and he gets on the board no problem.

"Okay now I go by shifting my weight, but I think I might go too fast," Doyoung explains.

"Keep holding onto my hand and I'll keep you safe," Taeyong says with a wink, and Doyoung's only thought is that it's too early to be gay panicking. They make their way through the streets without anyone saying anything which is a minor miracle, but the philosophy of don't ask, don't tell is strong in the Center City.

Doyoung is sure it takes them twice as long as it took Taeyong to get to the train station, but that's okay because Taeyong isn't complaining or anything. In fact, Taeyong looks like he's having so much fun.

"Can I ask a question?" Doyoung asks once they arrive at the train station. The station is full of doctors and politicians with the occasional teacher or other employee. Taeyong puts the skateboards away and looks to Doyoung.

"Yeah, this is all about seeing if we will work well together, so anything you think is important, you should ask," Taeyong says. "But let's walk and talk at the same time."

"So, I was wondering if you live slash work alone?"

"That's an interesting first question," Taeyong muses. "Very different than what I asked first when I was in your shoes. But I don't. I have a second apprentice, although he's much more like a son to me. He was an orphan, so I got to raise him and because of my position they didn't send me back to the Center City."

"That's interesting," Doyoung replies. He wants to ask more about this second apprentice but isn't sure if that's the right move here because like it or not this is a test to see if Doyoung is worthy of this job. Doyoung really wants to be worthy of this job.

"Any other burning questions?"

"What do you think is the most important part of your job?"

"To be able to think outside of the box and dream big," Taeyong replies. Well, Doyoung can most certainly do both of those things.

"I was always told I dream too big," Doyoung mumbles. "My parents told me I should go for something safer, like being a doctor, but I don't want to be a doctor."

"What do you want out of this job, Doyoung?"

"I want to create things that help the betterment of society. Even if it's something small like making a new model of a computer. My invention will help make other's lives better, no matter how small it is, I'll enjoy doing it."

"That's a really good answer," Taeyong admits. "But you need to pull out your I.D so we can get through the gates here." Doyoung does as asked and flashes his I.D to the security person.

"Sir, you are not twenty yet, you can't leave the Center City."

"He's with me," Taeyong says. The security person gives Taeyong an up and down. Taeyong flashes them his I.D and they roll their eyes before letting the two of them through the gate.

"They really don't like letting people in," Doyoung comments.

"All they want is to keep people on one side of society," Taeyong points out. "They don't want any back and forth." Doyoung sets aside Taeyong's comment and focuses on not getting distracted by everything around him. Taeyong guides Doyoung through the station with ease and they sit on a bench waiting for the train.

"This station is not what I expected," Doyoung says. Everything that's past the lobby area of the train station is covered in blue, bronze, and bits of gold. It's beautiful and with each turn of a gear feels almost like a breath. Maybe Doyoung is crazy, but the building feels alive.

"What do you mean? Don't they show kids what the Outer City is like once and a while in school?” Taeyong says. "Maybe it's been too long since I was in school. I can barely remember it at all."

"To answer your question, it's just so lively. Everything in the Center City feels lifeless and dead. You could tell me this building is alive and I would believe you. And also we only learn that the Outer City exists at age fourteen. While there's some general knowledge about it, I don't know too much because my teacher really went bare-bones on her teaching," Doyoung rambles. "Also, how old are you if you don't even remember school? My parents are in their fifties and constantly tell me about how school was when they were kids."

A train whizzes by and Doyoung doesn't get close enough a look to examine it. Taeyong doesn't move though, so it must not be their train.

"I completely agree with everything you said," Taeyong begins. "And I'm thirty-seven I think. I stopped counting once I reached thirty. Age is just a number and it won't hold me back in any way until I'm really old."

"You do not look thirty-seven at all," is Doyoung's first response. So maybe Doyoung shouldn't be panicking over someone nearly double his age. Explains how Taeyong already has an apprentice that must be around Doyoung's age. "Also can you tell me a bit about your apprentice? Like would I be working with them? Do I work under them?"

"Yeah, his name is Donghyuck Lee and he's turning sixteen this year, so he's four years younger than you. He's a really sweet kid. A bit on the shy side, but then he opens up a lot. And assuming you get the apprenticeship he would work more with me but could be your assistant at times as well though," Taeyong explains.

"That sounds exciting. I really can't wait to see your factory," Doyoung gushes. "That might be a bit too fanboyish, but I really can't help it."

"I'm glad you're excited. If you weren't I would be concerned, so keep it up." Taeyong rests his hands in his lap. "That factory means so much to me, I can't even begin to put it into words."

"I understand. That's like your baby in a way," Doyoung says. "I promise I don't mean that in a weird way." Taeyong laughs and stands up.

"Don't worry, I get it," Taeyong replies. "Our train will be here any moment so stand up and come to the edge of the platform with me." Doyoung does as requested and they wait for a brief moment before a shocking blue train comes speeding past them. The train slows and the doors open with a puff of steam. Inside, everything is covered in plush velvet and stripes. Taeyong seems to have dressed in the material of the train itself.

"This train is beautiful," Doyoung mumbles. Taeyong grabs Doyoung's hand and guides him to two empty seats side by side. The wooden paneling holds the cushions in place perfectly and while Doyoung isn't even into making furniture, but he wants to recreate this furniture.

"I'm glad you think so. This train also runs within the Outer City. This is one of three stops I believe in the Center City. I know there's another at the Cylinder, but there might be another. Eh, I don't come here often enough to really care."

"That's still interesting," Doyoung comments. "How long until we reach your factory out of curiosity?"

"We will stop off in the merchant district and then take the skateboards up to my factory. It's on the edge of town so the train doesn't run up there. I mean there's a bus during class hours, but it's not class hours, so there's none running. I don't encourage visitors anyway," Taeyong explains.

"Wouldn't you want to have lots of visitors to show off your new technology?"

"No, they just get in the way. It's why I am only taking one apprentice, like those before me. I have a lot of information to pass down and it's hard with too many people running around. Everything within the factory is automated, but occasionally I will talk to a journalist or two and entertain them a bit. Other than that and basic metalwork classes, it's pretty empty. Just me and Hyuck."

"So why did you pick to take an apprentice this year?" Doyoung inquires.

"I want someone Donghyuck can look up to, but not have too much of an age gap with, I suppose. He's the person that means the most to me and I think he needs a little bit of companionship," Taeyong says slightly sadly.

"Well, I hope I can be that person then," Doyoung replies. "I have a friend who's around the same age as Donghyuck and he means the world to me, so I know what it's like to have someone very special to you and watch them grow up if that makes any sense."

"Yeah, it makes sense," Taeyong says. "Our stop is the next one so stand up and move to the doors with me." Doyoung does as asked of him and stands by the door. He looks out the window and sees all the buildings fly by, but even though he doesn't get a good look at anything he can see that each thing is different from the one next to it and that is such a sharp contrast to the Center City where everything is exactly the same no matter where you go. Doyoung really can't wait to leave.

The train slows to a stop and the duo exit the train. Doyoung follows Taeyong by his hat through the crowds out of the station until there's enough space for Taeyong to pull out the little bronze balls again. He drops them onto the ground and Doyoung swallows, hoping that this time he'll at least be a bit better at skateboarding.

He recalls Taeyong's instructions and tries to mimic them to the best of his ability. Taeyong is floating next to him, waiting for him to feel comfortable enough on the board to move forward on his own. Doyoung lets himself glide forward a few feet and Taeyong stays by his side the whole time.

"Are you ready to try taking these uphill?' Taeyong asks.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Doyoung replies. "I also don't really have another option here." Taeyong laughs and floats a few more feet ahead of Doyoung.

"Scream if you fall off, okay?" Taeyong asks and Doyoung nods completely concentrated on not falling off. They go for hundreds of yards without any issues, Doyoung seeming to have a knack for the board once he lets go of all of his nerves and tries to have fun.

It's once they reach the hill that Doyoung starts to have issues. He can't quite figure out how to make his board go uphill with his feet starting to slip.

"Okay, while this is not a scream, I do need some assistance here," Doyoung says once they are a good chunk up the hill and Doyoung can see Taeyong's factory from here. He is so excited to be able to see inside Taeyong's factory-like he's been dreaming of, but he can't get there if he falls off his skateboard.

"What do you need?" Taeyong asks.

"My feet keep slipping as I go uphill," Doyoung explains. "I've gotten this far, but I'm surprised you haven't noticed all the times I almost fell off and rolled back down the hill."

"Despite my job, I'm not always the most observant person," Taeyong admits. "Let me make the board work on its own. Hop off for a second." Doyoung gets off the board and it coils back up into a ball and Taeyong does something then the board unfurls again but it's a bit wider than before.

"What did you do?"

"Climb on and find out." Taeyong speeds ahead and Doyoung sighs, there's so much pushing him out of his comfort zone today and it's already taking a small toll on him. Doyoung gets on the board and suddenly he's being shot forwards, past Taeyong and up the hill, but he doesn't feel like he's going to fall off at all.

He lurches when the board halts immediately in front of the large, cast-iron gate that prevents random teens from entering the factory. A small man comes out of the front door of the building and comes up to Doyoung, the fence obscuring parts of his face.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Doyoung Kim and I'm applying to be Taeyong's apprentice. I suppose that must make you Donghyuck then?"

"Yeah, I am," Donghyuck replies, looking shy already. Doyoung wants to put this boy in his pocket. Such a precious guy. "Where's Taeyong?"

"He's coming up the hill behind me. My board went a lot faster than his and now I'm here," Doyoung explains with a laugh.

"Should I let you in then?" Donghyuck asks. "I assume you're here for a tour of the factory then."

"That's what I assume I'm here for as well, but Taeyong isn't the most normal person, so who knows. I could be pulling weeds," Doyoung says.

"My plan was to give you a tour, but if you're offering to clear all the weeds out of my yard, I would readily accept your offer," Taeyong chimes in, now all the way up the hill. "Donghyuck, I told you not to come out here and greet strangers."

"But—"

"You're lucky it's just Doyoung, but there's a reason that I like for you to stay inside unless you have someone with you," Taeyong interrupts and Doyoung bites his tongue because he isn't the one caring for Donghyuck, but he's literally just in the front yard. What's going to happen to a fifteen-year-old in their own front yard? Especially if there's a huge gate in front of it.

Donghyuck opens the gate for Taeyong and Doyoung to enter and Doyoung steps off his skateboard. Taeyong gets off his as well and they go right back into his coat pocket. Taeyong leads both of them through the front door of the factory and Doyoung is overwhelmed by the sheer number of gears all on display in the lobby room.

"This is the entryway for anyone who might be here for touristy reasons," Taeyong explains. "To the right is the main factory area, straight ahead are some empty classrooms for teaching classes. To the slight right is a hallway full of photographs that leads to my office. My office is two stories and can also be accessed through any other doorway. The sharp right is a stairway that leads upstairs to bedrooms and storage rooms. Then there's an attic above that."

"Wow, there's already so much to take in," Doyoung mumbles, and Donghyuck eyes him.

"Is there any spot you would like to check out first?" Taeyong asks.

"Can we look through the main factory area first? I would like to see where all the real action is," Doyoung jokes. Taeyong leads them off to the left and through a single metal door, decorated in swirls.

Once Doyoung is standing in the factory room, his jaw drops. There are machines everywhere, all buzzing and whirring, doing their own job. Farther back, Doyoung sees an entrance to Taeyong's office along with a set of stairs that lead to walkways along the upper half of the room, all weaving in between machines, probably for maintenance whenever it's needed, but Doyoung loves the way they tie everything together. Maybe Doyoung just has a strange taste in interior design, but he's perfectly happy with his style the way it is. Except he definitely needs more variety of outfits, but that's off-topic.

"What do you think?" Donghyuck asks.

"It's beautiful," Doyoung replies.

"That's not the usual answer I get," Taeyong muses. "Most people just comment on the literal appearance rather than the beauty of machinery."

"Machinery is beautiful though. It's literally what powers everything we have and we should be grateful to it."

"They can't hear you, Doyoung," Taeyong jokes. "You don't need to flatter them so much." Donghyuck frowns and Doyoung wonders why, but puts that thought to the back of his mind when Taeyong offers to show him a machine up close. "This machine creates gears. It's a simple task and is only really used when I'm creating another machine or repairs need to be done, but here." Taeyong picks up a gear off the conveyor belt and hands it to Doyoung.

"Thank you," Doyoung replies. It's his first thing that will come from the Outer City. Doyoung slips it into the pocket of his scrubs and follows Taeyong in between the machines until they reach his office.

"My office is located in here and—" Taeyong is interrupted by a phone call. He checks the caller I.D and frowns. "I have to take this I'm sorry. Donghyuck, why don't you show Doyoung to the other parts of the factory?"

"Okay," Donghyuck replies. "Right this way." Donghyuck leads Doyoung up the metal stairs and onto the catwalks that look out over everything. "There are a few machines that sometimes need to be maintained that are up here, but not too many." Doyoung doesn't like that Donghyuck sounds so stiff when he's talking. Maybe it's because Doyoung is a stranger or something.

"I hate to interrupt you, but you really don't need to be formal with me," Doyoung says. "Tell me what it's like here from your perspective." Donghyuck seems to light up at that.

"Well, I have named all the machines based around what they do and my opinion of them. Like this one on our left is Betsy because she almost never needs maintenance or anything. But the one at the end of this catwalk is Carl and he's a pain in the ass. I have had to make metal patches for him before because he likes to break so much," Donghyuck rambles. "But is there like anything you want to know about what it's like here? I feel like I'm supposed to be doing that as well as showing you things."

They come to the end of the catwalk which has a door at the end. Donghyuck opens the door and lets Doyoung walk ahead of him. The walls are personalized and covered in photographs.

"I want to know if you're happy here and if you think I should actually work for Taeyong," Doyoung requests. "Some people are kind on first impression, but actually suck and you live with him, so you must know." There's a flash of contemplation on Donghyuck's face before he states his answer.

"You should work here because you really want to work with machines. Taeyong is a bit hands-off for the most part and not that bossy really. Unless, he has like a super important deadline I would say," Donghyuck says. "If metal works is what you want to do with your life, this is the job for you."

"Thank you, Donghyuck," Doyoung replies. "You seem like you'll be someone fun to work with if I get accepted."

"I have a feeling you will. Taeyong has privately looked for an apprentice for a while, and none of them seemed to work well with him. He only even opened up to the public because he was getting a bit desperate," Donghyuck reveals. "But don't tell him I said anything."

That's funny. Taeyong had a completely different story as to why he waited a few years. Doyoung assumes that Taeyong just wanted to keep his best foot forwards since this is the first time they've met, and it doesn't really matter because Doyoung wants to be chosen anyway, and that wouldn't have happened if Taeyong had taken an apprentice earlier.

"Anyway, where are we?" Doyoung asks.

"This is my room. Well, it's the hallway that leads to my room and what would become your room." Donghyuck leads Doyoung to a door with his name on it. "Over here is my room which is very messy right now, so we aren't going to look at it. All the other unmarked rooms are just full of random things Taeyong doesn't want to get rid of but doesn't have a use for. And if you follow me this way, you'll see this." This, being a door covered in metal swirls, much like the one that led into the main factory area. Donghyuck swings open the door and Doyoung steps inside. The room is pretty baren, but there's a bed, desk and view out onto the factory floor that Doyoung wishes to call his one day.

"I would be able to personalize my room, right?" Doyoung asks.

"Yeah, and I could help you if you'd like," Donghyuck replies shyly. "I made all the metal swirls on the door."

"Those are so cool," Doyoung cheers. "Yeah, that sounds amazing. Where to now?"

"Follow me to the end of this hall and then we will take the stairs right back to where we came in," Donghyuck says. They leave Doyoung's new dream room and walk past at least eight more unmarked doors. Just how much stuff does Taeyong have? There's probably things from past inventors that their apprentice found useless and then it sat there for ages. Even still, it's a lot of things that could be being put to some use.

The hallway ends and Donghyuck leads Doyoung down the stairwell. They pause in the lobby area for a moment.

"Taeyong would be over here by now if his phone call was a short one," Donghyuck mumbles. "We can walk over to his office and see if he's ready to take you back to the train station."

"Couldn't you take me?" Doyoung asks. He has no idea what the rules are for Donghyuck because he's only fifteen, but he seems to be very independent already.

"I don't leave the factory." The way Donghyuck phrases that is weird, but Doyoung ignores it. He's not going to push him into an uncomfortable conversation, especially not on first meeting. That seems extra rude and likely to fuck up Doyoung's chances of getting this apprenticeship.

"Okay, I don't mind waiting," Doyoung replies. "I like it here anyway, but should we walk over to Taeyong's office to see if he's still on the phone?”

"Yeah, good idea." Doyoung trails behind Donghyuck as they walk through the long hallway full of little historical notes. Lots of pictures and captions, but it's cleanly set up so it feels closer to a museum than something from someone's home.

They reach the end of this hallway which turns to the left and leads directly to Taeyong's office. Doyoung can hear that Taeyong is talking to someone, but can't make out what he's saying.

"I'll tell him we finished the tour, just wait here," Donghyuck requests. Donghyuck darts ahead and knocks lightly on Taeyong's office door while Doyoung is stuck looking around the hallway. Part of the hallway branches off to the left and is full of classrooms to teach if Doyoung remembers the layout of the factory correctly.

He glances down the hall and sees Donghyuck and Taeyong talking since they are distracted, Doyoung takes a few steps towards the classrooms. Windows on the outside let Doyoung see the different equipment in each room. Before he can look in the third window, Taeyong clears his throat behind him.

"I'm ready to take you back, Doyoung," Taeyong says. "I don't normally get calls like that, but it was someone important. I hope Donghyuck showed you everything you needed to see."

"Yeah, he was very helpful," Doyoung chirps, following Taeyong back to the front door of the factory. Taeyong holds the door for Doyoung and exits first. He gives the factory one last look over before glancing over to Taeyong who's already on the skateboard with Doyoung's floating next to him.

They glide through the front gate and Doyoung risks one very last glance at the factory, saying his goodbyes just in case he never comes back. But Doyoung really hopes this won't be his last visit.

**Author's Note:**

> hello and welcome to the end of chapter one !!! comment your thoughts or hmu on twitter !!!  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/carrotyeol)  
> [Curious Cat](https://curiouscat.qa/carrotyeol)


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